BitPay Merchants Can Now Receive Settlements In Two Stable Coins

Bitcoin payment processor BitPay will now start providing merchants and businesses the option to receive the settlement for their payments using two recently launched stable coins – Gemini Dollars (GUSD) and Circle USD Coin (USDC).

The ERC20-based stable coins, issued by regulated cryptocurrency exchanges Gemini and Circle, are backed 1:1 by the value of US dollars and held at US-located and FDIC-insured banks. It allows users to send and receive US dollars over the Ethereum blockchain.

Holders can redeem these stable coins directly for US dollars without the risk of value change or price volatility for holders.

The new option will give these merchants and businesses a non-volatile settlement solution that does not rely on traditional bank wires or the volatile cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The stable coins represent real US dollar holdings as tokens on blockchains.

Goldman Sachs-backed crypto finance company Circle had launched USDC on September 26 and Gemini launched GUSD on September 10.

The notable omission from the list of supported stable coins is tether (USDT), which is a dominant payment token and the eighth-largest cryptocurrency. Also absent is Paxos Standard (PAX), another stablecoin launched by cryptocurrency firm Paxos.

USDT was again missing earlier today when crypto exchange OKEx announced the listings of four stablecoins – TrueUSD (TUSD), USDC, GUSD, and PAX.